Bullying

Bullying is the use of force to get one's own way, typically for a selfish purpose at at the expense of others. Censorship is a type of bullying. A person who perpetrates bullying is known as a bully.

Increasingly liberals try to pass anti-bullying laws as a way of censoring conservative speech and activities, such as quoting from the Bible that criticize homosexuality or rough physical activities such as football. Passage and enforcement of anti-bullying laws is a liberal way to increase government control to the point where people, even children, need to constantly worry about whether Big Brother government approves of what they say or do.

In college and at many public schools, bullying takes the form of intimidating students to prevent them from expressing or defending their conservative views. Teachers[1] and liberal students can use liberal grading to bully students into accepting liberal positions or avoiding conservative ones in classroom discussions and on papers and exams. Statements such as "support for same-sex marriage increases with a higher level of education" is an attempt to bully opponents by embarrassing them or calling them stupid.

Even the Office of the President, sometimes benevolently referred to as "the bully pulpit" to promote social change without government mandates, was misused to bully and impugn collectively the major opposition party in the United States when President Barack Hussein Obama openly accused the Republican Party of seditious acts by "encouraging our enemies".[2]

Bullying can be used to punish students in or outside of class for doing or saying something that is politically incorrect. An example of classroom bullying is for students to ostracize a fellow student based on a viewpoint expressed by that student.

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Bullying by Children

Children in public schools are not encouraged to bully other, weaker children, and many schools have strict rules preventing bullying. Those who do choose to break the rules can take the form of teasing, hitting, extortion ("Give me your lunch money"), and so on. Children who engage in this type of bullying tend to do so as means of acting out due to problems in their home lives, such as parental abuse or being in poverty.

Educators have been known to countenance the practice by saying that as kids grow up, they simply must learn to deal with bullies.[3] The implication is that they can learn this on their own, while academic subjects such as arithmetic and English must be learned from books and teachers.

It is commonly said that bullying is "simply part of growing up" or part of "the rough and tumble of childhood."[4]

Most students who are bullied either do not report the bullying to adults, or they wait a very long time before doing so. The reasons include feelings of shame, fear of retaliation for reporting, and fear that adults cannot or will not protect the victim in the settings where bullying usually takes place.

Many teachers and parents tell children not to "tattle," and to resolve their problems themselves.[5]

Many academic approaches go out of their way not to mention using any kind of adult force (let alone punishment) to stop bullies. One Canadian program is an exception:

If the bullies will not change their behavior, despite concerted efforts by school personnel, the bullies, and not the victims, should be the ones who are removed from the class or school, or transferred to another program. Consequences for the perpetrators will be of considerable interest to all students, and will set the tone for future situations.[5]

Response and Prevention of Bullying

Besides telling an adult, there are other things kids can do to stop themselves from being bullied or prevent bullying in the first place. They include but are not limited to

Learning self-defense and not being afraid to fight back if provoked.

Gathering up a large posse of friends to help defend yourself.

Lifting weights and taking protein supplements to get bigger (this is only appropriate for high school students, before the age of 14 or 15, kids usually don't have enough testosterone to build muscle and weight training before 14 can be dangerous).

Sticking up for smaller, younger, and weaker kids. This sends a message that bullying will not be tolerated.

Tolerance of those who are different.

Teachers taking a more proactive role and nipping bullying in the bud when it crops up.

Ridiculing and shunning those who repeatedly engage in bullying.

Longer suspensions and expulsions, or in extreme cases, criminal charges for the worst offenders.

Return of classroom prayer and teaching of proper morals and why bullying is inherently evil and wrong.

Parents punishing children who bully others.

Staying active and participating in sports (team or individual) and/or martial arts. Athletic and strong children are much less likely to be bullied.

Parents teaching kids proper social skills so they are less likely to be bullied.